There is an immense reservoir of good will for public libraries and yet public libraries are struggling to stay afloat. Why is this? It seems that in our marketing efforts, we are being incredibly obtuse. But in what ways? How do we tap into Ghawar Field of public love for libraries? How do we make libraries sticky? Let's discuss.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Critics are those that would speak ill of you, or need to be converted

Friends are those that might have given permission, or even buy now and then

Fans are members of your tribe, supporters and insiders

For the bulk of my outreach efforts, I'm looking for strangers and friends. Critics of the public library? If they are out there, they are a very small and/or quiet group.

If I can get strangers and friends into the library (or using our resources), I'm happy to leave the cultivation of transforming those folks into fans to the fabulous reference and circulation staff members of the Spokane Public Library. I'm coming to find that it isn't necessarily the information that folks are wowed by, it is the availability of a human to help connect them with the information they need. That's the important part.